Summary of americanah

                                   Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  Obinze and Ifemelu were teenagers who fell in love and like all the other teenagers thought they would be together forever although they both had very different family lifestyles.

  Ifemelu grew up as an only child with a self-righteous mother and a father who simply did not believe in God.  Ifemelu’s mother went to church every Sunday and some weekdays.  She moved from one church to another which annoyed young Ifemelu and as a result Ifemelu did not believe in God or Christianity Because of her mother’s attitude of blaming everything on the devil.

 Her father also was like that but did not talk on the matter in order to avoid trouble. But Ifemelu’s father lost his Job and Ifemelu’s family began to struggle.  Luckily Ifemelu had an aunt whose name was Uju.  She was having an affair with a General in the time of Abacha’s reign so she was well taken care of and was the closest Family member to Ifemelu.

   Ifemelu visited Aunty Uju during the weekends. She eavesdropped into her conversations with the General and noticed that it could never work and she tried to warn Aunty Uju but she shunned her saying she was just a child and knew nothing.

 Aunty Uju fell pregnant later that year and she began to sense also that her affair was not working. She left for America to give birth to her son Dike who took her name because she was not married to the General. The General died a few months later in an Air crash and Aunty Uju left Lagos to start her life in America with what she had left.

      Obinze grew up being the only child; he was raised by his mum after his father died. Obinze instantly became the cool boy at school when he arrived and was admired by most of the girls in his grade. Kayode his friend took him to a party one night to meet Ginika, Ifemelu’s best friend but Obinze ended up talking and dancing to Ifemelu the whole night, Obinze was attracted to Ifemelu and Ifemelu to him so they had excellent chemistry.

     Obinze and Ifemelu ended up going to the same university after Obinze’s mother had to move back to Nsukka. So they both ended up in the University of Nsukka; some of their friends left to America and England but they stayed back.

     When Ifemelu couldn’t keep up with all the strikes that the university was having, Ifemelu’s parents decided to send her to America with the little they had, Ifemelu was excited about American life but she wasn’t happy leaving Obinze behind and her parents still struggling. She begged Obinze to come with her but he refused saying he wanted to finish his education in Nigeria. He promised he would leave after graduation.

   So Ifemelu moved to America to start her brand new life, She stayed with aunty Uju for sometime while bonding with Dike and trying to advice aunty Uju to choose men wisely but as always Aunty Uju shunned her. Ifemelu left Manhattan and moved to Philadelphia after some time to start her university education again. Ifemelu did not have all the privileges’ the Americans there had; she did not have a Job and was still struggling with her rent. Ginika her friend lived in Philadelphia helped her often. Once Obinze sent her money and she was disappointed in herself she believed that she should be the one sending money back home.

  Although Ifemelu wasn’t able to work with her visa she went from place to place searching for Jobs, with a social card that wasn’t hers so she had to go by the name of Ngozi. Ifemelu spent days  writing and re-writing her resume, One of her friends advised her she should remove the  part about being educated because the Americans did not appreciate the Lower class being educated.

Ifemelu went for a Job interview one day for a tennis player, he offered to pay her a hundred dollars for massages which was not the Job she applied for, Ifemelu told him that she would think about it and left. Later that week, Ginika came to take Ifemelu for a babysitting interview, which she could go by her real name. Unfortunately Ifemelu did not get the Job even though she was a strong contender, Ifemelu was angry, she called the Tennis coach and went over and he paid her a hundred dollars. Ifemelu was ashamed with herself she could not touch herself after what she had done.

   Ifemelu cut of contact with everyone after that incident; including Obinze. She could not bear to talk to anyone after what she had done she felt she betrayed him and after that she stopped talking to Obinze. Ginika knocked on her door one morning and told her that she had a gotten a job, Ifemelu did not really care about anything anymore but she went and it was the same babysitter Job.

     Ifemelu worked with the family until she graduated from university, Kimberly her employer grew very fond of Ifemelu and offered her the family car also accommodation but Ifemelu refused. Ifemelu met her first boyfriend since Obinze in Kimberly’s house, Curt liked Ifemelu very much and when he finally asked her out Ifemelu said yes. Ifemelu went out with curt for a really long time until she cheated on him and he left her. Ifemelu was broken after that time but accepted it eventually.

    Ifemelu had now started her own racial blog which was very successful in the U.S. she started dating another person but he was an African American while curt was Caucasian. She met Blaine in the train one day but they did not keep in touch, but fate let them see each other eight years later.

 Ifemelu broke up with Blaine three years later, she sold her blog shipped her car to Lagos and decided t move back to Nigeria to restart her life. Ifemelu knew she was not unhappy but she felt like she needed to move back to Nigeria. She informed Obinze that she was moving back to Nigeria and they both agreed to meet up when she arrived.

     Obinze moved to England after University, after he was denied a visa to America.  Obinze was in England Illegally so he tried to arrange a fake marriage, which backfired when got caught and was deported. Obinze did make some friends there, Friends that did not know his real name, they all thought is name was Vincent, because like Ifemelu he used another person’s social card.

     Obinze became a rich man in Lagos, He married a beautiful woman named Kosi and had a daughter together. When Obinze found out Ifemelu was coming back he was excited but was doubtful he wanted to see her and he was looking forward to her return but he was scared.

    Ifemelu returned to Nigeria after her agreed time because of family matters, she did not tell Obinze because she wanted to lose weight first. But as fate had it they ran each other at a local book store and had drinks. Shortly after that they had started an affair Obinze was now cheating on his wife and Ifemelu had become one of those women she grew up to hate. She had also started her own blog again in Nigeria but about Culture. Obinze then realized he never loved Kosi he only had great responsibility for her; he agreed that Ifemelu was the only Woman he ever loved and wanted to marry her.

  Ifemelu tried not to think of Obinze’s family. But it finally came up when Obinze told her he had to think things through. Ifemelu was heartbroken and did not answer his calls or read his texts for seven months. In those seven months Obinze asked Kosi for a divorce she begged him to stay for their daughter but he decided he will see his daughter a lot so he would not remain in that marriage. Obinze eventually moved out one faithful day and went over to Ifemelu’s house and told her his feelings and everything that had happened and she invited him inside.

   So Ifemelu and Obinze did find each other again but was it for the best? Did the book end well?  Did Obinze make the right choice?  Comment